WASHINGTON — The White House announcement that President Obama will issue a number of executive orders meant to deter gun violence is causing anxiety among pro-gun groups fearful of a power grab.

But it’s hardly the first time Obama — or prior presidents — have used an executive order to go around a dug-in Congress. The practice goes back to George Washington, who proclaimed Thanksgiving in 1789.

In 1989, after a mass shooting in Stockton, Calif., President George H.W. Bush used an executive order to ban importation of some semiautomatic assault weapons.

And President Bill Clinton in 1998 used an executive order to ban the importation of more than 50 semiautomatic assault weapons.

President Franklin Roosevelt signed an infamous executive order to force the relocation and imprisonment of US citizens of Japanese ancestry during World War II.

In an important chapter in civil rights, Harry Truman, with Executive Order 9981, desegregated the armed forces, while Dwight Eisenhower signed the edict federalizing the Arkansas National Guard and ordering the desegregation of Little Rock HS.

One of President Lyndon Johnson’s first acts as president was to sign an executive order to create the Warren Commission to probe the assassination of President John Kennedy.